A Global Struggle: Worker Protest in the Platform Economy

Joyce, Simon; Neumann, Denis; Trappmann, Vera; Umney, Charles

doi:10.2139/ssrn.3540104

Cited by 45 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…But it is simply not the case that platform workers find themselves defenceless. Indeed, in many respects, the energy and self-organisation of platform workers make this area one of the most exciting examples of worker organisation in contemporary capitalism (see, for instance, Cant 2019; Joyce et al 2020; Tassinari & Maccarrone 2017; Vandaele 2018; Woodcock 2018; Woodcock & Graham 2019).…”

Section: Rediscovering the Cash Nexus In Platform Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rediscovering the cash nexus, again: Subsumption and the labour–capital relation in platform work

Joyce

2020

Capital & Class

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This article proposes a re-theorisation of the main social relations of platform work, based on two concepts drawn from Marx: subsumption of labour and the cash nexus. Platform work research to date is heavily empirical in character, with little theoretical development. As a result, the social relations of platform work are treated descriptively, using ad hoc or common-sense categories, or platforms’ own terminology. This under-theorisation leads to over-estimation of platform work’s novelty, decentring of capital in accounts of its development, incipient technological determinism and problematic generalisation from emergent trends. In place of the commonly assumed ‘triangle’ of platform work relations, this article argues that platform work is best understood in terms of an emerging labour–capital relation, which establishes a cash nexus between platform and worker as a result of a process of subsumption. This re-theorisation, in turn, helps to understand the rapid emergence of platform worker organisation and resistance, and the similarity of its demands with worker resistance in other, more established areas of paid work under capitalist relations of production.

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Section: Rediscovering the Cash Nexus In Platform Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rediscovering the cash nexus, again: Subsumption and the labour–capital relation in platform work

Joyce

2020

Capital & Class

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“…(2019: 400) observe that ‘[c]ollective expressions of agency within the Australian food delivery sector were also largely absent’. In Europe, however, platform labour in general and food delivery labour in particular is ‘one of the most vibrant and exciting areas of labour organising’ (Joyce et al ., 2020: 1; see Cant, 2019; Heiland, 2020; Heiland and Schaupp, 2021; Tassinari and Maccarrone, 2019). So far, the focus of analyses has been on visible and collective forms of resistance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Controlling space, controlling labour? Contested space in food delivery gig work

Heiland

2021

New Technol Work Employ

102

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The article investigates the control of the platform labour process by means of the digital production of space and how workers resist it. The segment of German platform‐mediated food delivery is examined via qualitative interviews and auto‐ethnography. It is shown how the platforms create different spaces to efficiently coordinate and control mobile delivery gig work. Steered by geolocalisation and geofencing, the couriers operate autonomously in spatial corridors defined by the platforms. The agency of the riders is thus limited, but they are occasionally able to undermine the platforms’ spatial control and reinterpret it. The article shows that space is a central but contested instrument for controlling labour.

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“…Although organisation and collective action are difficult challenges for platform workers and trade unions, there are an increasing number of encouraging experiences of self-organised platform worker struggles and trade union initiatives to support platform workers' interest representation (see also [31]). The European Trade Union Institute reported 127 platform-worker protest actions worldwide in 2018 [32].…”

Section: Employment Relations In the Gig Economymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Besides such incipient forms of self-organisation and unionisation, there are already some experiences with strikes and collective action [18,32]. In Belgium, riders are free to join a trade union and have set up a self-organised, network-based Riders Collective.…”

Section: Employment Relations In the Gig Economymentioning

confidence: 99%

Riders, Rights and Collective Action

Köhler¹

2021

Beyond Human Resources - Research Paths Towards a New Understanding of Workforce Management Within Organizations

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The aim of this chapter is to develop a conceptual framework for analysing the collective actions and organisational practices of delivery and transportation gig-workers, building on Rosa Luxemburg’s colonisation concept and on the power resources theory employed in current trade union analysis. The empirical bases are recent surveys and studies on platform work, the analysis of websites and social media communities for the collective action of platform workers and conversations with platform activists in several European countries. The specific characteristics of platform workers’ collective actions and organisational practices are examined with a view to identifying their potential and the opportunities they afford in the light of different trade union power resources.

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A Global Struggle: Worker Protest in the Platform Economy

Cited by 45 publications

References 4 publications

Rediscovering the cash nexus, again: Subsumption and the labour–capital relation in platform work

Rediscovering the cash nexus, again: Subsumption and the labour–capital relation in platform work

Controlling space, controlling labour? Contested space in food delivery gig work

Riders, Rights and Collective Action

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